Police seize Cayuga Nation’s untaxed cigs

Police in western New York raided Cayuga-owned convenience stores last week, seizing 17,600 cartons of cigarettes they say failed to have required excise tax paid on them.

While authorities have yet to invade on-reservation stores for failure to pay taxes, they seized the Cayuga goods last week claiming that the stores are not on reservation land. Rather, the stores are on Cayuga ancestral lands, which the Cayugas are in process of applying to have put in federal trust.

Indian nations have been exempt from paying and charging taxes on reservation-sold tobacco, although a law recently passed by the state requires Indian-owned stores to charge the tax to non-Natives purchasing their tobacco goods. The state has yet to enforce the law.

Police said the Cayuga’s seized goods did not have $485,000 of state taxes paid on them, though the Cayugas claim their Indian-owned stores are exempt from paying state taxes like other Indian-owned stores in the state. They’ve promised to take the counties to court over the seizures.

The stores were located in two separate counties and the seizures took place under county direction. State officials had reportedly opted not to intervene.

St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Chief James Ransom said Tuesday that the seizures were unfortunate.

“I believe the Cayugas are correct in stating there is no law in place preventing them from selling cigarettes,” he said. “There is presently a court injunction in place that prevents implementation of the law.”

Ransom said the Akwesasne’s situation is very different from the Cayugas, but “It is hard to say whether similar actions could take place here... hopefully, our relationship with the counties is much stronger than there.”